Top rebel's death in Syria reshuffles deck ahead of talks

﻿Drone footage ﻿from Friday shows Syrian army airstrikes allegedly targeting Zahran Allouch, the head of the Army of Islam group near Damascus, Syria.﻿

﻿Drone footage ﻿from Friday shows Syrian army airstrikes allegedly targeting Zahran Allouch, the head of the Army of Islam group near Damascus, Syria.﻿

Photo: HOGP

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This image made from video made available on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, by Al-Mayadeen, government-controlled Syrian Television, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting shows,Â drone footage allegedly showing Syrian army airstrikes targeting Zahran Allouch, the head of the Army of Islam group near Damascus, Syria. Militant groups in Syria on Saturday mourned the death of a powerful rebel commander who was killed in an airstrike near Damascus â a high profile assassination that may shift the balance of power in rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital. Allouch, was killed Friday, Dec. 25 in an airstrike that targeted the group's headquarters during a meeting. (Al-Mayadeen via AP video) less

This image made from video made available on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, by Al-Mayadeen, government-controlled Syrian Television, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting shows,Â drone ... more

Photo: HOGP

Image 3 of 4

This image made from video made available on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, by Al-Mayadeen, government-controlled Syrian Television, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting shows,Â drone footage allegedly showing Syrian army airstrikes targeting Zahran Allouch, the head of the Army of Islam group near Damascus, Syria. Militant groups in Syria on Saturday mourned the death of a powerful rebel commander who was killed in an airstrike near Damascus â a high profile assassination that may shift the balance of power in rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital. Allouch, was killed Friday, Dec. 25 in an airstrike that targeted the group's headquarters during a meeting. (Al-Mayadeen via AP video) less

This image made from video made available on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, by Al-Mayadeen, government-controlled Syrian Television, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting shows,Â drone ... more

Photo: HOGP

Image 4 of 4

This image made from video made available on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, by Al-Mayadeen, government-controlled Syrian Television, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting shows,Â drone footage allegedly showing Syrian army airstrikes targeting Zahran Allouch, the head of the Army of Islam group near Damascus, Syria. Militant groups in Syria on Saturday mourned the death of a powerful rebel commander who was killed in an airstrike near Damascus â a high profile assassination that may shift the balance of power in rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital. Allouch, was killed Friday, Dec. 25 in an airstrike that targeted the group's headquarters during a meeting. (Al-Mayadeen via AP video) less

This image made from video made available on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, by Al-Mayadeen, government-controlled Syrian Television, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting shows,Â drone ... more

Photo: HOGP

Top rebel's death in Syria reshuffles deck ahead of talks

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BEIRUT - The assassination of a top Syrian rebel commander who led one of the most powerful groups battling President Bashar Assad's forces has dealt a significant setback to the opposition that could reshuffle the lineup of key players on the ground ahead of Geneva's planned peace talks next month.

On Saturday, the Army of Islam and allied militant groups in Syria mourned the killing of Zahran Alloush, while government supporters and the Islamic State group cheered his death - a reflection of his role in fighting both sides in the Syrian civil war.

'Logistical' delays

Allouch was killed in airstrikes that targeted the group's headquarters during a meeting on Friday. He was instantly killed along with a number of senior commanders of his Army of Islam group and those of the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and the Faylaq al-Rahman groups.

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The Syrian army claimed responsibility for the airstrike that killed Allouch, although many among the opposition blamed Russia, which has been bombing IS targets and other insurgent groups since late September.

Allouch was a controversial figure in the war and an authoritative rebel leader who commanded thousands of fighters on the doorstep of Damascus, the seat of Assad's power. His death may have contributed - at least partially - to a delay in an agreed-on pullout of thousands of militants and their families from neighborhoods on the southern edge of Damascus.

The pullout, supposed to start on Saturday, was to involve mainly militants from the Islamic State group who earlier this year overran the Yarmouk area, which is home to a Palestinian refugee camp and has been hotly contested and fought-over in the war, and two adjacent neighborhoods.

A Palestinian official in Damascus, Anwar Abdulhadi, said that the withdrawal is being delayed for "logistical reasons." But Lebanon's Hezbollah-run TV station Al Manar said that Allouch was a key figure in arranging the rare deal, and that his assassination has delayed its implementation. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

Allouch's killing - a month before peace talks are scheduled to begin between the Syrian government and opposition rebel groups - is a blow to insurgents fighting to topple Assad and a boost to government forces who have been bolstered by the Russian military intervention in Syria.

The Army of Islam took part earlier this month in an opposition meeting held in Saudi Arabia during which it agreed to take part in political talks seeking to end the 5-year-old conflict scheduled for late January in Geneva. The Syrian government describes the group as "terrorists" and has said it will not negotiate with such factions.

'War of extermination'

Anas al-Abdeh, a senior member of the main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said the assassination "makes a mockery of all talk of a political settlement" and undermines the "negotiations before they begin."

Several opposition groups also mourned Allouch's death and accused the government and its allies of trying to eliminate rival groups ahead of the talks. Several rebel leaders have been killed since Russia's aerial campaign started on Sept. 30 in support of ally Assad, although Moscow has insisted that it is concentrating its attacks on Islamic State. "Rebel groups should realize they are facing a war of extermination by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's regime," said Labib Nahhas, a senior member of the militant rebel Ahrar al-Sham group.

Abu Hassan al-Muhajer, another senior member of Ahrar al-Sham, wrote on Twitter that the "next stage will witness the liquidation of those leaders who began the uprising" against Assad.